11 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Me to Unfollow You on Twitter

11 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Me to Unfollow You on Twitter

I love Twitter, no doubt about it. I have found it to be a fabulous tool, through which I’ve come to know countless brilliant and fascinating people. To me, Twitter is about building relationships. Like all social media tools, there is no one right way to use Twitter. I cannot control how others use it, but I can control who I follow and how I interact with them.

I follow most people back who follow me. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I do aggressively unfollow if your use of Twitter is not aligned with my own style. Of course, you are always welcome to similarly unfollow me if you feel my content is inappropriate or a bad fit for your twitterstream.

Just so we’re clear, here are some of the deal-breakers for me which will likely earn you a big unfollow from me:

You talk about yourself endlessly. This is where most of your tweets are just broadcasting links to your blog, your e-book, your teleclass, your LinkedIn profile…enough already. Way to take the “social” right out of social media.

You tweet links for me to “Click here to make money on Twitter” or “….get 1,000s of followers.” I’m here because I want to know *you* – if the feeling isn’t mutual, that’s OK. We’re just not a good fit. And, I appreciate that you’re guaranteeing that I’ll make tons of money on Twitter; I’m still not interested.

You recommend people you don’t even follow, including me, in a #FollowFriday tweet. What’s up with that? How can you recommend someone you don’t even remotely know?

You include links which are misleading. I’m not talking about RickRolling here; I mean making it seem like there is really great content if you just follow this link, only to have it lead to promotional material or a squeeze page. This happens when you take advantage of the common convention of shortened links on Twitter and is a violation of the trust your followers have placed in you.

Your tweets are automated and often post content repeatedly in bursts where suddenly my twitterstream is nothing but you. It may be easier on your end, but it is just rude for those of us on the receiving end.

You don’t engage with others. When I look at your profile and don’t see any tweets which begin with an @ symbol, this means you are just broadcasting information, not actually talking or replying to anyone else.

You don’t practice what you preach. There are some on Twitter with huge numbers of followers who preach about the importance of engagement, yet routinely don’t reply to others. When following huge numbers of people, this can become a challenge, but there are many who manage this successfully building their own credibility by walking the talk.

You have tweeted twice, yet are already following hundreds of people. I sense you’re a bot, rather than a real person, and can already see spam on the horizon.

You use TweetLater or some other service to send auto-DMs (direct messages) to me once I start following you. You are so excited that I’ve decided to follow that you tell me that I seem like a really interesting person or you offer me a free e-book or send me a link to take a survey for new followers to help you get to know me (yes, really!). I’d much prefer that you read a few of my tweets, interact with me and really get to know me. I don’t need to be bought with a gift for being your friend and, heaven knows, I surely don’t want a stranger selling stuff to me right out of the gate.

You don’t get that authenticity is a key component of social media success. You have the default Twitter avatar or are using a photo of your dog. You haven’t completed your Twitter bio – come on, it is really, really easy to do. I don’t know your name and can’t find your blog, your LinkedIn profile or any other online presence. I’m here for networking and to get to know people. If you want help setting up your profile, all you need to do is ask, I’ve helped many others and would be happy to help you.

Even on a list of 11 items, it is worth repeating #1 – Go put some clothes on. Seriously.

118 Comments

Great advice. I will some folks here for a little reality check when need be.

Perhaps my only disagreement might be regarding avatars on number 11. I agree not to use the default nothing box that twitter gives you, but a pic of your dog or favorite painting or even the Eifel Tower shows that someone made an effort and has provided something that can be considered an “icebreaker” Too often one can be judged based on their looks, age, race or sex and the beauty of social media is that we can avoid the baggage and predispositions.

Another little Twitter tip is that if you want people to follow you, you should follow them back.

As you know, I used to be the 3rd most followed person in England and one of the top 50 most followed people in the world. Then, I reset my account, to zero following and zero followers. Today, I ‘only’ have a few thousands followers because I only follow around 50/60 people.

I get just as many new followers each day as I used to, but because I don’t blindly follow people back, (until they either tweet me or respond to one of my tweets,) they unfollow within a day or so.

That said, the quality of my network on Twitter is massively higher these days and Twitter has become far more enjoyable.
.-= Jim Connolly´s last blog ..34 marketing tips and ideas =-.

Thanks for your input, Jim. I absolutely agree that not one style works for everyone. The truth is that while I do follow-back most everyone now, it may be that there will come a time when I want to reconsider this strategy. You’ll note that I did not mention “you’re not following me back” as a reason I’d unfollow someone. I know there are many people for whom this is a deal-breaker, but not me. That is part of the beauty of using social media tools – we each get to tailor our use to best meet our own style.

Hi Waseem. You are the perfect new user. You watch, listen and aren’t afraid to ask questions. You’ll find that those involved in social media are, not surprisingly, quite social – and also happy to help. Soon, you’ll be the one helping someone else settle in.

I just wanted to say that sometimes people don’t tweet right away because they could be on the shy side. For them, just being on Twitter and having an active account is a huge step. Maybe the ones who do alot of promoting whether it’s their blog, website or latest marketing tweet that because it’s a definite source of information in their minds that some readers may find useful. I’ve found that after 4 months on Twitter, it’s trial and error with many of the followers. I have lost some followers but I try not to let that get the better of me since so many of the initial followers were one-sided in the first place. I think the longer you stay on Twitter, the number shouldn’t matter as much as the Twitter friendships you’ve started to form. The good thing about this site is that you only need 140 characters. The ones who provide great information and can tweet in a way that’s inviting without being pushy are the tweets I find most useful. So, my point is that Twitter is still new to some of the twitterers and it may take some time before a person gets in their groove. I tend to agree with the guy above who said the less he follows the more quality twteets he receives.
.-= Elena´s last blog ..Dogs in the News: Still Shocked! =-.

Valuable points, Elena. Actually, I recommend that people new to Twitter put a couple of tweets out there and then sit back for just a bit to see what others are talking about and spend time finding interesting people to follow.

The people I was referring to above with just one or two tweets, but hundreds or thousands of followers are not really people, but automated bots.

Elena: “I just wanted to say that sometimes people don?t tweet right away because they could be on the shy side. For them, just being on Twitter and having an active account is a huge step.”

There are also those of us who are sort of social but anti-social at the same time. Observers… how ever you want to describe it. Wanting to be part of it, but not in the middle of all attention. Lurkers. In real life and in the virtual. People without families or friends to connect to (for what ever reasons) or people whose native language is not English. People too polite to talk to starngers. It’s not always shyness, but the results can be just as restraining.

I’ve been online since early 1996. First it was the BBSs, then Usenet, later IRC, then the web. Not really chatting or “social” stuff like that, just helping people who had problems with operating systems etc. Answering questions, taking time to help people. Watching in the shadows till needed to step in, but always knowing what was happening out there. Finger on the pulse?

It was Irene’s #canihelp that brought me to almostsavvy.com, BTW. Knowing my background you can understand why.

I don’t think there’s such a thing as a typical (or stereotypical) Twitter user. Not everyone wants to use it to promote their business or their egos. I know the question on the Twitter frontpage is “What are you doing?”, but I see it being much beyond that. I’ve been Truly Inspired via Twitter this week and that is something to write a song about!

Already back in 1996 they said that the web is the great equalizer, giving a mom-and-pop business the same platform as the big companies. When Google’s AdWords came along, it was no longer so: those who have more money to burn got more attention. Come along Twitter and I find us going back to the roots again.

I’m just a regular guy following Stephen Fry, Esther Dyson, Seth Godin, Irene Koehler. One of the four has replied to me but hey, I know they are all busy. I don’t *demand* a reply. But how great is it that I can be in the same virtual room as them, listening to their words of wisdom. Could that happen in real life? No. To me, *that* is the power of Twitter.

I thought you were right on with your thoughts. I’m surprised that I will be the first to comment on your post. Not every one is out going and able to generate great content on a regular basis but that does not mean that they are not worth following. Twitter does allow each of us to socialize in our own way even if that means just sitting back and taking it in until the moment we feel comfortable & confident enough to join the conversation.

Music on Twitter is one that doesn’t annoy me. I myself use FoxyTunes that allows me to post what music is playing in my Winamp with 1 click. Many, many people do enjoy it and often comment a “big thanks” for taking them back to some fond memory from a classic 60’s-80’s tune that I might post. I do not like Blip.fm though, as they require me to search for a song, thus wasting valuable time.

You are TOTALLY right about blip.fm. I wish there was a way to filter them out, like you can on FriendFeed.

They drive me nuts.

Why should someone broadcast what they are listening to? Do these same people drive down the street shouting out the window, each time the music changes on their car’s radio?
.-= Jim Connolly´s last blog ..34 marketing tips and ideas =-.

As with followfriday and other keywords we may not want to see, TweetDeck has a Filter. I have used it and seems to work well. You can set up a column off the screen (way to the right) for all tweets then apply the filter to the one you want watch.

I think each person has their own criteria for who they follow or not. There are some whose subject matter and style of tweeting tend to turn me off. I’m sure that if most of my followers hadn’t come while I was tweeting on about NASCAR during races, they’d drop me in a heart-beat LOL.

Those that follow me that have updates that are mostly via TwitterFeed will usually get added to my RSS reader if I’m interested in their links (or their blog itself). That’s all they are really using Twitter for anyway..another mechanism to pump their RSS feed into without any real interaction. The exceptions would be breaking news tweets that I want to appear in my twitter stream.

Great stuff here. May have to link to this post at some point. Especially noteworthy is #4. I often wonder if people RT’ing the #FF lists actually follow those people first….
.-= Matches Malone´s last blog ..A Horse Designed by a Committee =-.

I get what you say about #7, but please be careful here. The “thing” about Twitter is “What Are You Doing?” It isn’t “What do You Think About Me and What I’m Doing?” The original idea of Twitter (and the instructions above the web posting box if anyone still uses that) IS to post about yourself. There’s likely some back-and-forth occasionally, but I’m as likely to unfollow someone who generally posts links or comments to others and never tells me “What They’re Doing” as I am for those with disturbing avatars (you got that right.)

For those that take the prompt literally, you are right. It is very “me” focused. It is my sense that most people believe (and again, this is just my own sense) that the prompt is outdated and limiting. It has evolved far beyond the original design and intent. People now use Twitter much more broadly. There is no one way to use Twitter, so you are as right as I am. You may want to unfollow the same people I think are fabulous, if that’s what works for you.

Great list! You hit many of my own personal Twitter pet peeves. I know that, to some, getting the highest number of followers is what it’s about; however, I’m more about quality than quantity. Like you, I regularly weedwhack my followers list to block those who are JUST selling something (including themselves–ewww).

I’d add a number 12 to your list of fastest ways to get me to unfollow you: EXTREMELY frequent tweeting. If someone sends out 30+ tweets a day, I’m not interested in following them, because I’m already getting a lot of tweets from a lot of other people.

Irene said: “I know many share your view about the prolific tweeters. I do have lots of conversations on Twitter, but they won?t show up in your stream unless you also follow the person I?m replying to.”

Right, and that’s not necessarily the person I’m talking about. I’m talking about people who are sending prolific tweets to EVERYONE who follows them, not as a matter of conversation, but purely as an answer to “What are you doing now?” But way, way overdone…inane reporting of their every activity.

You are still following me, but you never did answer my *guarantee* to make tons of money with your 1,000 new followers per day. What gives? I mean, really, what part of “easy money” or “massive success” did you not understand? Just for that, I am taking off my shirt! Maybe my manly chest will help you to find greater use in my new Twitter affiliate program. ROFL!
.-= Mark Aaron Murnahan´s last blog ..Twitter Success Stories =-.

I fully agree with you, even for some people who don’t want to reveal themselves they should still get avatars. I have a deal for you if you want me to make an avatar for you too, check it on my website.

Irene, I couldn’t agree more. I am an aggressive un-follower. In fact if I check out the profile of someone following me and I am not impressed, I don’t follow them at all. My goal is to follow no more than 100. That way I can actually follow them individually and get some real value out of continuity in my following. I am constantly ungrading my follow list. (I added you BTW). I have use Tweetchuck as well to filter some potentials.
Great article, I am going to post on my company blog to share with my real estate agents.
Best wishes,
R

Great list – One note on #4… there are two circumstances where I would (& have) recommended someone I don’t appear to follow myself: Besides my own account I manage a couple for work and one for a community group and may recommend someone on one account that I follow on another, also, when I have a friend that is new to twitter I might do some checking around to help them find others specifically of interest to them

Thanks for pointing that out, Angela. My guess is that this is not what others are doing when I see them tweeting many names of people they don’t follow, including my own name, but huge kudos to you for going the extra mile to help others find the right connections to ease the transition. Your point about managing more than one account is also an excellent one which may be transparent to those on the other end.

Interesting discussion so far. I follow most people who follow me. The exceptions would be if you have zero updates and loads of following and/or followers; all your tweets are you posting about your day then every five posts or so is a link to the same ‘get-1,000,000-followers-in-one-day’ website. If I’m unsure of your intentions I’ll usually give the benefit of the doubt until I’m proven otherwise.

One thing that annoys me is when the follow Friday thing is overdone. When I get 20 posts from one person about who to follow in one continuous stream, that just mucks up my stream. I haven’t stopped following anyone yet but I’m getting there.

My stream contains mainly links to things I find interesting. I post maybe 10-15 times a day including replies or comments. It depends on what I’m doing/reading. These sometime initiate a conversation which I always like. Most links usually stays in the areas of design, technology, environment, sustainability, programming and photography. But, I’ll post about anything I find interesting. What I do with my links however is I try to describe what the link is. I actually read what I’m linking to and give my opinion or as best as I can within 140 characters. The link is going to be about something I’m interested in or have some knowledge about, so I’ll tell you why I’m posting it. I know my style isn’t for everyone but I still have followers so I can’t be all that annoying.

I’ve also started using posterous, so my plan is to expand on things I find interesting there. This feeds to my Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed streams. My objective isn’t to gain some large number of followers but to connect with people who are interested in similar things. I’m still trying to figure out a good workflow for me, with using all these sites.

You make some very good points. I follow people who provide with specific information that I interested in. Usually they follow me back but I seldom tweet because I don’t often have anything interesting to say. I need to work on that. But my pet peeve is people who tweet constantly. Seriously, I don’t need to know what you’re doing every moment of your day.

#6 – I confess to using some automated tweets…to promote a cause I believe in, with no commercial benefit to me. I have like 5 different tweets, each of which goes out like once every 2 weeks. I figure that’s reasonable — it’s what I would do anyway, it just makes it more convenient and makes sure I don’t forget about it.

#10 – I still maintain that auto-DMs are great in theory… it’s just unfortunate that 95% of them are useless junk. Every so often, one really makes me smile, laugh, think and/or want to get to know that person. If they were all like that, I don’t think people would have such hatred for them.
.-= Scott Allen´s last blog ..Bacon Explosion ? 12 Essential Tips =-.

Agree with all that you say here. I realize that some degree of “nakedness” may be part of someone’s brand and more power to them. I won’t be following them, though. Regarding #6, I’m not against all automated tweets, it is the amount and timing of them. The way you’re using them sounds well thought out and reasonable. And the DMs – Bingo!

Appreciate the support. The number of naked or nearly naked avatars is astounding. Clearly, I’m not in their target market (meaning anyone who wants to click on their link to get more money/followers/photos of me).

I agree fully — the Twitter revolution has ushered in plenty of new ways to annoy me. Worthy post.

I do have to join with Dan above in disagreeing with you on #7, however: I’m not at all a believer in carrying out conversations on Twitter. In my opinion, someone whose profile is full of “@” symbols is the most irritating user by far. Since I follow everyone in my social circle, my news feed is full of @thisfriend from @thatfriend, so I wind up being bombarded with the contents of personal (and largely inane) conversations that don’t concern or interest me at all.

The “what are you doing?” prompt is one that I believe still ought to be taken at face value. I want to know what my friend is doing, not what he thinks of what my other friend is doing. Those wishing to engage in back-and-forth conversations should utilize the “direct message” function — or, better yet, a number of other tried-and-true tools outside of Twitter.
.-= Jesse Porter´s last blog ..07/15/09 – the southern Rh?ne is so 2007 =-.

While I do use the @ reply function for some level of interaction, I could not agree more that there is a time and place for everything. Once you’ve gone back and forth a few times, it may be time to move to email or, dare I suggest it, a phone call!

Thanks for a great post Irene,
I’ve unfollowed people for most of these reasons. I’ve even blocked some people who were clearly spammers and sent their @ to @spam. Just doing my duty as a part of the Twitter community.

I totally agree. Automated DMs or advertising forced down my throat work every time… I only recently joined Twitter, so not many updates or followers yet – it’s easy to keep track. If I see my follower count increased, checking the Followers page shows their last tweet. If it’s something about getting huge following in Twitter or making easy money in the net – I just block them and be done with it.

#1: That’s why I left MySpace two years ago.

#11: I don’t have my ugly mug in my avatar. but if you look closely enough, you’ll notice that the N is fully clothed and decent. 😉

Yes, yes, yes. My favorite is that one where you have tons of followers but you don’t engage at all. Major brand, personalities and self-promoting gurus need to really understand this one because I truly believe that in the end, they will all become irrelevant. Excellent post.

Thanks, Julio. It may be that the brands only care about promotion and their audience only cares about news, but I agree that this is changed at a rapid rate. Many of those that “get” it are being found by new people through the evangelism of their audience.

Great post Irene. I neither have a huge following, nor follow too many people – content is important for me.
A lot of people have been talking of “Get 1000 followers with a click’ etc – but to what purpose?
I wouldn’t follow someone who either doesn’t tweet or tweets trash.
People would expect the same of me.
Twitter, unless channelized correctly, can end up being full of millions of twitterers who exist in name only.
Social Media can be successful only if it has social relevance – and that’s a function of how relevant my tweet or your tweet is.
Great Post 🙂
.-= Rahul Jauhari´s last blog ..Mission? What Mission? =-.

Irene, I’m so with you. #1,3,9, 10 I don’t even follow in the first place, if I can help it. In last few months, I’ve been reading every bio and 1st tweets page to see who they are. Once in a while, I skip that and just follow back. Always regret it!

#4, 6, 9, 11 are grounds for rapid unfollowing.

#7 & 8 : Most important.
Yesterday, a semi-celeb (in twitterworld, not real world) complained about those who don’t follow anyone back. But out of 4 times I’ve replied to her, she’s only responded once. And we have a mutual friend IRL.
Honestly. That’s about as engaging as dinner with a narcissist.

Great post. Look at all the comments!
Thanks for saying hi.
.-= Kat Jaib´s last blog ..Katnip Awards =-.

I’ve had that exact experience many times and know that you and I are not the only ones. You’re right; it’s not engaging at all. Thanks for letting me lure you to the post. Once I saw your tweet, I knew this would resonate with you.

I was unfortunately just reminded of another thing that people do on Twitter that BUGS me: Some people pick a trending topic then send out a tweet full of unrelated garbage (ads, gimmicks, porno sites, etc.) with the trending topic tacked on the end. Their tweets have nothing at all to do with the trending topic, they just tack it on to get their tweets seen (often multiple times in a row with the same trending topic). Annoying!

[…] few days ago, my friend and social media maven Irene Koehler wrote a fantastic blog post entitled “11 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Me to Unfollow You on Twitter”.? After I laughed myself silly over #1 (you’ll see why), and smiled and nodded at all the […]

Irene, wish I’d seen this sooner. Just found it due to an RT form another twitter peep.

#7 is one of the big deal breakers for me. I do want to know who you are and a bit about what you do. And I too am here to interact and engage with people. But, not everyone has the same reasons for using twitter. I think it’s all about balance.

Really, to unfollow someone is not a crime, and to be unfollowed by soemone is not shameful. Itthe act of unfollowing is just saying that – I am looking for something different from what you are currently offering in my twitter stream.

Yes, we all have egos, but at it’s best twitter is not a popularity contest. I don’t take it personally when someone unfollows me.

I agree with your list/points 150% ! Everything on your list is true and I’ve seen it all . I really liked your “interact with others” points. On my page and many of my friends [and many of whom who are NOT bots/spammers] i have the @ sign pretty much covering my profile. I love interacting with people and I think that others should too! After all , isn’t that why twitter is there ? Goodjob !

Well, this was a great find on a Sunday morning for me. I’m a freelance writer and am contracted to write a small handbook on maximizing the use of Twitter in a business setting.

The targeted audience is internet/network marketers wishing to develop a presence in the various social media venues. Aside from the standard “rules” I see mentioned here, several new ones appeared as well as ideas for applying twists from a business perspective.

I personally use Twitter as a research tool as much as anything else. I often find new takes on old ideas from many of the tweets I get; providing fodder to write about. In light of that I have some pet peeves, I suppose:

* I find people to follow using a tool that sorts them by category (according to the topics I am researching). It really whittles my stick to follow someone who says they are into “crm management,” for example, only to be spammed to death with offers for diet pills by them. That’s an unfollow,a block with two circles and a snap.

* I also manage several Twitter accounts for businesses. In other words, I kinda take all of this pretty seriously. Like stated above, I seek quality over quantity every time. I may use a tool to gather “candidates” to follow, but I go through the list by hand and vet each one. So, bots and spammers have a short shelf-life around here anyway and are wasting their time (albeit a bit of mine as well).

* I do a lot of re-tweets simply for the reason that my client base is quite varied. If I see something they may benefit from reading, I re-tweet that sucker. I do that for my health, as I suffer from MDD – motivational deficit disorder.(Being terminally lazy, I find that easier than writing a piece myself – why reinvent the wheel, eh?) In fact, I predict this very post to receive at least 4 tweets some time today.

I’ll admit to being guilty of several Twitter crimes myself time to time; ie sending out a lot of ads and such. But I had to know first hand the effects of it to write about it. Yes, I’m the guy that sees the wet paint sign and touches the park bench just to see if it really is. What can I say?

Really enjoyed the piece and the response you got from your readers as well. Be back to read more soon.

Mike, Thanks so much for articulating your thoughts and your take on Twitter so well. There is no one “right” way to use Twitter or any other social media platform, for that matter, but this list was written with what *I* look for when connecting – or disconnecting – from people online.

Well, short of the long: your piece here helped me a lot in my research for some grass roots “don’t doits” on Twitter. I agree with all 11 of your initial recommendations and many of the others I saw here as well. I left pointed in several new directions for further research. Many thanks.

Excellent list. I’d add this one to the list: The self-professed ‘guru’.

But here’s a couple of twists on that I’m noticing as a sort of subversive way to that same end. Falls into your broadcasters category – #7. (could use opinions on this):

1.tweeters actually retweeting themselves. Or every time someone retweets them, they retweet that retweet.

2. it seems like a group of…(wannabes, coat tail riders are terms too strong) folks on the fringes of the established Twitter social media guru set fom whom I’m trying to learn (analysts, etc) are intentionally retweeting each other excessively on these topics. Then you check out their profile and their job/experience/etc provides no basis for expertise on the upon which they are tweeting. It appears conspiratorial but that may be too cynical.

Great additions to the list! There will always be people who over-sell themselves in any field and social media is no different. It is just a little harder to drill down to real experience because it is all so new – for all of us!

I wrote a very similar post a while ago. Two of my pet peeves. The “Compulsive Quoter” the guy who quotes everyone else, all the time and never has an original thing to say. Or, the “Stream clogger” the person who posts 10 posts one right after the other clogging up everyone’s time line.
.-= Deborah Smith´s last blog ..The Social Media Mindset =-.

People are as likely to read what I’m thinking at any given time as what I’m doing. Occasionally I might mention a movie or TV show, or a book I’m reading, or I’ll mention that I’m back working on my own latest project, but I might tweet about nearly anything, seemingly at random–from politics to science to culture and society, history to philosophy or speculative fiction. My brain is a great randomizer and it’s like Forrest Gump says: “… You never know what you’ll get.”

I had a good laugh at this because all these reasons you unfollow are reasons that I BLOCK! I decided when I joined Twitter that I didn’t want these unsavoury types even reading my tweets, so if I get a new follow, I always check them out. If they fit your criteria for unfollow, I block immediately. If they seem really interesting, I follow them back. If they seem like a real (normal) person, but nothing they’ve recently tweeted resonates, I just leave it be. Sometimes I go back and review the followers I don’t follow and see if I should change my mind. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

Delaney, this is an excellent and often overlooked point. These days, those that don’t take the time to post some information to their bio and a link to their blog/LinkedIn profile/etc, may look suspiciously like spammers. At a minimum, they don’t give us enough information to know if we’d like to connect.

Hey, Sharel! Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but unfollow very aggressively. A lot of people don’t like to unfollow others as it reduces their own follower numbers, but if those people aren’t really listening or interested in you, what value do they add?

This list made me laugh, you have a great way of writing. Thanks again for the advice. I have only one question about your point #5 about short links. I use tiny url because it saves on the number of characters. Are you saying they are misleading? I always test them and they seem to work but do they actually take readers to a different link than what was intended?

[…] after all. Back in July, Irene Koehler from Almost Savvy wrote a post called (get this…) 11 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Me to Unfollow You on Twitter. I know, sounds familiar, right? Of course, my post shares an almost identical title (I went with […]

Great points. I get this one a lot: I mesireables following me. Like I menention something and I suddenly have 50 undtioned Lady Gaga and lots of porn hawkers started following. Or I mentioned something about losing weight (legitimately, with some intelligence, especially since people ask me questions and I’m an expert at this subject) and I’ve suddenly got a jillion (obviously autobot driven) followers talking about instantly zapping belly flab when everything I teach is SO NOT THIS QUICK FIX CRAP!!

You’re savvy. Do you see any way around this? At this point, I just block… or report for spam… what’s best?

Pat, you are not alone. This happens to all of us. In the big picture, do you care which accounts are following you? Chances are very high that these are automated accounts, not real people actually managing the account. Not all of the accounts following others based on keywords, which is what you’re experiencing, would meet Twitter’s definition of spam. If they do, then definitely go ahead an report them. I personally don’t see much use to block accounts since my tweets are all public and can be seen even by those not on Twitter. Frustrating, I know, but there is so much value to be found on Twitter, I focus on those who are using it to connect and learn and ignore the rest.

Very good post Irene! I’ve felt #5 and 10 several times and am hugely disappointed. A few I’ve unfollowed just because there content is misleading. On the other hand I’ve gained great knowledge and tips from those worthy of following. Although slow to start a year ago once I got it I’ve become a big fan of Twitter.
Thanks!

The only one I don’t use is the @ symbol, which you say is one of the NO NO… not too sure why this is so important???? People who follow me get my tweets & my retweets, right? I use twitter mostly to get information & relate information, but am not too savvy on twitter, so possibly I’m missing an important facet of twitter.. May be you can explain when & why I should use @ and to whom.
Another question: I find it time consuming. I see some people using tweetdeck or some other form to tweet. Went on those sites & couldn’t really understand????

Hi Mireille. Tweetdeck and some of those other applications are used primarily by heavy Twitter users, many who are following a lot of people. It is one of many tools which make it easier to keep track of different groups of people more easily. If using Twitter.com is working fine for you, I wouldn’t worry about which tools others are using. It’s just preference.

The @ symbol is extremely important if you want to reply to someone’s tweet or send a tweet that you want them to see. If you include @irenekoehler in your tweet, it will come directly to me in my ‘mentions’ – which is the Twitter equivalent of an inbox. Otherwise, I may never see that tweet that you wanted me to see.